The Secret Mass Room, Swithun Wells, Saint - English Martyr DVD

£10.00

The Secret Mass Room - Saint Swithun
Wells:

In Elizabethan England, when the Catholic Mass
was outlawed and it was illegal to be a Catholic priest within the Queen’s
realm, a Catholic gentleman named Saint Swithun Wells set up a secret room in
his town house in London.

Saint Swithun was a fascinating man, a convert
to Catholicism, a country gentleman who enjoyed sports and reading in his
younger days. He had a wife, Alice and a daughter, and he travelled abroad and
worked with one of William Shakespeare’s patrons.

In his Secret Mass Room in London, Saint
Swithun Wells kept illegal vessels, vestments and all the means for hunted
Catholic priests to stay in his home, rest and offer the outlawed Mass for the
recusant Catholics of his area.

Thanks to Saint Swithun, many missionary
priests eluded capture and the Catholic Church endured during the cruel years
of persecution. When the Queen’s most notorious priest hunter, Richard
Topcliffe, got wind of Saint Swithun Wells’ activities and the existence of a
Secret Mass Room, Topcliffe marched upon the house with a rabble of men while
Mass was being celebrated. Saint Swithun happened to be out at the time, but
his wife, servants and two priests, Saint Polydore Plasden and Saint Edmund
Gennings, were led from the house in chains through the streets and taken to
prison.

When Saint Swithun returned home and his
daughter told him what had occurred, he promptly marched to the prison and
demanded the release of his wife. He was arrested on the spot and thrown in
prison as well. Although questioned and tortured, Saint Swithun remained
cheerful and refused to denounce the Pope, the Catholic Church or provide any
information regarding the survival of the Catholic Church in England or about
priests.

He was sentenced to death in an unjust trial
and because Topcliffe despised him so much, was led to a gallows constructed
outside his house. Saint Swithun greeted old friends in the crowd and
encouraged young Saint Edmund Gennings, a 24 year old Catholic priest, who was
hanged, drawn and quartered before him. Saint Swithun then gave his life
cheerfully as a great witness to the crowd that remains an inspiration for
Catholics today. He was canonised in 1970 and is one of the 40 Martyrs of England
and Wales,.

Learn about Saint Swithun Wells and the Secret
Mass Room in a film that has been internationally praised for not only
presenting details, information and facts but a prayerful and spiritual film
experience. As seen on EWTN.

Length and Format:

The Secret Mass Room - Saint Swithun Wells runs for 30 minutes and is
available worldwide on Region Free DVD.